NATIONAL THEATRE
SOUTHBANK
SE1 9PX
020 7452 3000
The Suicide
To 25 June
by Suhayla El-Bushra, after Erdman
Things are getting tough for Sam. No job, benefits stopped and stuck in a tiny flat with his wife Maya and her mum. The pressure is building. It feels like there might be only one way out. Hundreds of seats at £15 for every performance.
The Threepenny Opera
18 May to 1 September
by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann
in a new adaptation by Simon Stephens
A landmark of twentieth century musical theatre, The Threepenny Opera comes to the National Theatre in a bold new production. Simon Stephens’ vivid and darkly comic new translation of Brecht’s book and lyrics meets Kurt Weill’s extraordinary score. Rory Kinnear plays Macheath.
The Deep Blue Sea
1 June – 17 August
by Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan’s devastating masterpiece contains one of the greatest female roles in contemporary drama. Helen McCrory and director Carrie Cracknell reunite following the acclaimed Medea in 2014
The Plough and the Stars
20 July to 27 August
by Sean O’Casey
From November 1915 to Easter 1916, as the rebellion builds to a climax half a mile away, the disparate residents of a Dublin tenement go about their lives, peripheral to Ireland’s history.
Sunset at the Villa Thalia
25 May to 4 August
A new play by Alexi Kaye Campbell
April 1967: Greece is in political turmoil. Charlotte and Theo have retreated to a small island in search of peace and inspiration. But when they meet a charismatic American couple at the port they are seduced into making choices with devastating consequences.
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SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
56 PARK STREET
SE1 9AR
020 7261 9565
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
To 11 September
Fusing music, dance and some serious comedy, Emma Rice’s first production as Artistic Director brings the Dream crashing into the Globe’s magical setting. Naughty, tender, transgressive and surprising, it promises to be a festival of theatre. Let the joy begin!
The Taming of the Shrew
13 May – 6 August
Losing none of its power to provoke and sometimes outrage, Shakespeare’s controversial double-act gets a thoroughly fresh, fast and distinctly Irish makeover. Caroline Byrne’s production transports The Taming of the Shrew to the Easter Rising of 1916 in Ireland – the design and costumes of this production will reflect this setting.
Macbeth
18 June – 1 October
On a barren heath, three sisters tell the great and bloodied Macbeth that he is fated to be King of Scotland. And so begins a terrifying series of events that lead to the murder of Kings, friends, mothers and their children. Macbeth and his Lady fall prey to a soul-corroding guilt as they desperately try and cling to the defiled crown.
The title role is Shakespeare’s most brutal and poetic creation and the play his most unsettling engagement with the supra-natural and the nature of evil. Enter the unique intensity of the Globe as this cycle of wondrous horrors captures our imagination once again…
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THE OLD VIC
103 THE CUT
SE1 8NB
020 7928 2651
Groundhog Day
11 July – 17 September
A new musical directed by Old Vic Artistic Director Matthew Warchus.
The story of Phil Connors (Andy Karl), a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman who is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in the isolated small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, when he finds himself caught in a time loop, forced to repeat the same day again and again…and again. As each day plays out exactly the same as before Phil becomes increasingly despondent, but is there a lesson to be learnt through his experiences, will he ever unlock the secret and break the cycle?
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THE YOUNG VIC
66 THE CUT
SE1 8LZ
020 7922 2922
Blue/Orange
12 May – 2 Jul
By Joe Penhall
Christopher has been confined to a psychiatric ward for a month. He wants out. The problem is he still thinks oranges are blue. His doctor, convinced he needs help, wants to section him. The senior consultant thinks it’s all a question of culture: at home in Shepherd’s Bush Christopher will be amongst ‘people who think just like him’. And besides, it costs taxpayer money to keep Christopher in care.
Yerma
28 July – 24 September
by Simon Stone after Federico García Lorca
This achingly powerful story of a young woman desperate to become a mother expresses the anguish of a society battling to free itself from its past. Simon Stone’s new version re-imagines Lorca’s original for London today.
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MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
53 SOUTHWARK STREET
SE1 1RU
020 7378 1713
David Baddiel
My Family: Not the Sitcom
10 May – 25 June
My Family: Not the Sitcom is a massively disrespectful celebration of the lives of David Baddiel’s late mother, Sarah, and dementia-ridden father, Colin. It’s a show about memory, ageing, infidelity, what we can and can’t say in an over-policed moral culture, and gay cats. Come and be offended on David’s behalf.
Into The Woods
1 July – 17 September
Following great critical success in New York, innovative and ground breaking theatre company Fiasco bring their enchanting reinvention of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s masterpiece Into The Woods to the Chocolate Factory this Summer.
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UNICORN THEATRE
147 TOOLEY STREET
SE1 2HZ
020 7645 0560
Double Double Act
20 June – 9 July
By Christopher Brett Bailey, Tim Cowbury and Jessica Latowicki
Directed by Dominique Collet
Two children are performing their famous comedy routine. But they keep being interrupted by a pair of pesky grownups who are trying to perform their own act. The man looks like the boy. The woman looks like the girl. This can only end one way: CHAOS!
